Couple firsts today.....

 Got up and out on time (3am) for the first time in... well, I can't even remember the last time that happened. As I was driving through town I started running down my checklist in my head and (first #1) remembered I forgot to throw my rods in the boat. So I turned around and headed back to the house to grab my rods. Stupid....

Freshstart... back on my way to Erie made it through town and to the landing by 6am. Got the boat prepped to launch and had to use the facilities, so I threw my tackle bag in the truck and took care of some needed business. Launched the boat and headed out to some of the same marks as 2 weeks ago. Got the kicker running and started setting rods. After I got the corner rod set I went after my long rod, put the inline sinker on it and looked for my leader which is in my bag and.... dammit (first #2) I left the tackle bag in the truck. 

I had to pull up my trolling gear and head the 4 miles back to the launch. 

Freshstart... so now I have rods and lures I think I'm ready to fish??

Run the 4 miles back out and start setting up again, this time I'm ready to fish.

I boxed 3-16's in a matter of minutes and felt confident that I was going to put a limit in the cooler so I decided to sort for some bigger fish. The next fish on was a 21" so he went in the box, troll on. After a couple run backs and the fiasco in the morning I started to wonder if I had enough gas to make it in. I turned the key and it looked like a quarter tank. I'm not exactly sure how far that would get me but it was lower than I felt comfortable with so I started trolling in. By this time I hadn't had a hit in a while and I was pouring through my tackle looking for the lure that will bring me home. I put an oldie but a goodie on, a rattling hot tot in UV blue and pink. It didn't take long before it got hit and came unbuttoned as soon as it hit the surface. So I put it back out again, and again it got hit this time he made it into the net and the box. One more time for one last fish, within minutes I had another fish on. He also made it to the net and the cooler. 3 of the biggest fish came on 2 of the smaller lures that I was running that day. 

Needless to say when I got home I ordered 7 more Hot tots.

Forgot about that

 With the influx of people on the water because of the holiday week I opted to head to a lake that has a slot for water-skiers. That lake was Skinner lake, which I like to hit at least once a year. They have been planting muskie in there for a number of years. This lake isn't the best muskie lake in Indiana but it is the best one with no wake until 1pm. I also have caught a couple really nice bass there. So after I get too tired to chuck muskie lures I can go froggin' for bass.

I got there and launched just as the sun was starting to come up. 

I knew I was going to use this as my home screen or I would've taken a better pic.

 Anyway I chucked muskie lures until the sun got up and it started to get warm. Then it was time to switch to bass, as soon as I grabbed my froggin' rod a wave of dread rushed over me. I didn't remember when I left the house but I did as soon as I went to cast... The reel that I've been using as my froggin' reel and have for as long as I can remember just stopped reeling last year. 

So there I was without the reel to fish for bass, I immediately started to think I was going home early.

 Then I thought... I've got 65# braid on my muskie reel, what the heck I'll just switch it out and use that for the day. Which is what I did, I stayed 'til 1:30 and switched back and forth from froggin' to muskie chuckin', only scoring in one category.

It wasn't a big fish nor was it a even close to what that lake has to offer, but at least I didn't get skunked.

As soon as I got home I looked online for a replacement froggin' reel.... it should be here next week.

Last week's Vacation and this week's trip to Erie

 We'll start with Vacation..

First off I want to extend my apologies to everyone I didn't get a chance to see when I was home. In the way past I always only took 1 week to go home, then it turned to 2 when I started going to Canada for a week. Both ways gave me enough time.... Until this year

Either I can't manage my time as good as I used to (insert "WHAT?" here) or I was just busier than in years past. Either way I screwed up, that being said I vow to NEVER take just one week again. Sending early apologies to my parents who will have to put up with me for an additional week. 😆

Now all the stuff that did happen.... I went fishing... alot.

I went and shot on Tuesday with the gun club group of the family, minus the Hovis's who were up on LOW. I shot good for only shooting trap once a year, however I excelled at eating brats after we were done, while swatting mosquitoes. My eyes were sharp and my aim was on. 👍

Corey and I fished together 3 times this trip. Twice on Prairie Lake and once with Dave, I didn't get any pics of the day we fished with Dave but here's some from Prairie.

Another of Prairie lakes finest

Say what you want catching a fish this small takes alot of skill...

Notice how when we get a pic taken our arms are completely extended..... it's suppose to make the fish look bigger. 

I don't think it's working.

Like I had mentioned earlier I also went fishing with Dave, Pete, and Isaiah. The big lake was a little too bumpy so we made one pass in with the waves that yielded on hit on a slider that didn't hold. We heard they were catching walleye in the bay so we tootled around in the bay after walleye. We were able to box 3? keepers, shorts, and some "others"

we picked up a small pike

a couple clams

The day Dave, Corey and I went out we had a pretty rough day. Once again we tried to get out on the big lake only to turn around again and try the bay for walleye. We caught a couple shorts and a really nice white bass when we were pulling lines, that nobody got a picture of.😡

I also made it out to Eagle and fished with my Dad and my uncle Reg. We worked pretty hard hitting all the usual spots only to find the walleye on the lee side of the lake. 

Dad caught a stick that gave him quite a battle....

They picked up a couple keepers while I was having a hard time catching a pike. It wasn't until we dropped off Reg that I was able to hook up with a couple decent fish.

Dad managed to catch some fish too....

Like I said before it really does take a skilled fisherman to catch a fish of this size. 

Dad, Jason and I ran over to the bay to catch some walleye on Monday but only managed to hook a bunch of smalls.

 

And as does everything, another vacation came to an end. I had alot of fun with alot of laughs and I want to say thanks to everyone that made that possible.

Now with this week

I hooked up the boat and headed over to Erie to restock my walleye supply. 

 On my way over I made a pit stop and noticed that they might be coming off a May fly hatch....

Not sure but I got this pic...

When I finally got to Marblehead I put in at Mazurik launch. I wanted to try the East side of Kelly Island but when I got to the landing it was a little bumpy, so I decided to fish some memories of years past. If I was only able to make one pass in with the waves, fog or smoke....so be it at least I would be able to fish.

 As it turns out there were still fish where I had marked them and I started to carve out a limit. The haze didn't clear up all day and man was it thick.

The fish were hitting a little on the soft side I had 3 come unbuttoned at the boat, before I could net them. I also had to sort out 3 or 4 shorts that will live to get caught next year. 

 

Alright so here I was at 2pm on the verge of my limit with 5 already in the box. I was on the same troll as previous when I had my back rod fire. I picked it up and started bringing in my last fish, when I got him landed my other rod went off. So I picked it up and started bringing that fish in. When I got him landed I started comparing the fish. My first fish looked a little smaller than the second so I unhooked him and let him go. I watched him as the motor slowly kept the boat moving away and noticed he was not moving. As a matter of fact he was belly up and I saw there was blood in the water. So I turned the boat to chase that fish down while letting the other one loose. Long story short with 6 and 7th fish release and #6 nowhere to be seen I was back on the hunt for my limit fish. I can only think that #6 waited for me to release his cousin before righting himself and carrying on with his day.

AN HOUR LATER I was able to finally pin down my limit fish, pack up and head to the house.

Bonus for the day... Mazurik launch added a new fish cleaning station and restrooms. I will be fishing there more often. Really nice facilities.

Fear not true believers

 There will be a vacation post as well as a weekly post next week.

Lake Michigan Limit

 Well it would've been had I been on Lake Michigan fishing for salmon. I was however on my 2nd trip to Lake Erie, and from what I've been seeing I did pretty good. For the last couple weeks we've had a NE blow on Erie, it's been light but constant. Sunday it blew pretty hard with 4-7 foot rollers with some 9's thrown in for good measure. Well, needless to say that really muddied the waters, and as we all know walleye like cleaner water. I really didn't think too much of it until I got to where I wanted to fish and looked down. I would guess Monday would've been less than a foot on the sechi disk. Anyway I dropped some lines in and within the first 15 minutes I had one in the boat. It was then I made the mistake of thinking it was going to be a short day. That was not the case, I trolled for 10 or 11 hours changed lures often and only lost one fish at the boat. I didn't know then that the one I lost would've been my limit fish. With one fish short of a limit I packed up and headed for the landing a very tired man.

Not a limit but still a good day.

I can't wait to try again after vacation.